The Best Things We Saw at Life Is Beautiful 2024: Day 1
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The 11th annual Life Is Beautiful Festival kicked off on Friday, but the downtown Las Vegas staple looked a little different this year. In previous iterations, the festival has taken over 18 city blocks of downtown Las Vegas — located about five miles south of the famed Strip —but organizers switched it up this year, opting instead for a two-day “Big Beautiful Block Party” near the original site. Due to the smaller footprint, stages sat side by side, and sets didn’t overlap.
Despite the new digs in “old Vegas,” as the area is commonly referred to, Life Is Beautiful continued to have that familiar flair, embracing sponsored bars, local street food, glittered clientele, excessive daytime heat, firework displays and buzzy indie electronic headliners.
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Jamie xx, Justice, James Blake and LP Giobbi were just a few highlights of day one, but check back on our coverage throughout the weekend, as superstars including LCD Soundsystem, Jungle and Peggy Gou headline Saturday night.
Jamie xx Brings Mystique, Dares Crowd To Dance
Jamie xx, the day’s headliner, started his set on Friday and finished it on Saturday. This isn’t his first rodeo, as he previously played the festival in 2017 with his indie pop group, the xx. To little surprise, the English producer gave fans an earful of In Waves, his newest album and first in nearly a decade, performing “Baddy on the Floor” and “Treat Each Other Right.” Whereas some artists used colorful or bright production to stimulate the crowd, Jamie xx went the opposite direction, keeping his stage dark for the first third of his nearly two-hour set.
Black-and-white videos of the crowd flickered on large screens behind and around him – only rarely was color used, which gave off a sinister vibe, almost daring guests to dance. The mood fittingly brightened, as did the production, when “Gosh” and “Loud Places” dropped, both from his critically acclaimed In Colour album. Still, as he was backlit all evening, Jamie xx appeared to be a ghostly shadow at times. What he lacked in on-stage flair, comparatively speaking, he made up for it in mystique.
… And Justice For All
The French duo that is Justice just wanted people to D.A.N.C.E., and did they ever. Like Jamie xx, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay — the duo that makes up Justice — are well acquainted with Life Is Beautiful, as they procured a primetime slot in 2018’s festival (they performed before the Weeknd.) On Friday, they proved they hadn’t missed a beat. Easily the best production of the day, Justice’s stage included floating lights that illuminated the Grammy-winning electronic duo’s shimmering jackets. Those same lights transformed and danced to the music via colors and shapes, almost as if they had a mind of their own.
Additionally, 10 dangling TVs behind the group projected various graphics to coincide with the music. The crowd erupted in applause and screams when the beat to “We Are Your Friends” hit, proving the 18-year-old song has staying power. “Neverender,” their collaboration with Tame Impala, also prompted a huge response from Justice’s adoring fans, as did “Electric Feel.” Justice never uttered a single word during the 75-minute set, but they didn’t need to. The music did the talking.
James Blake Is So Moody On His Birthday
Blue and white strobe lights lit up the stage, and smoke lifted into the air as birthday boy James Blake brought his soulful harmonies, stunning falsettos and moody music to the festival. Although he began the evening with a church-esque feel, the tone switched when Travis Scott’s and Metro Boomin’s voices came over the speakers during “Mile High,” from Blake’s 2022 album, Assume Form. Blake’s voice was especially strong for “Retrograde” and the touching “Say What You Will,” the latter a song about making peace with where you’re at in life. “It sounds a lot better if you sing along,” he said before the track.
Although his set was flush with live vocals, Blake dabbled in electronic music and then took a not-so-subtle shot at other unnamed artists (even those on the festival.) “We do all this shit live, no laptops, no nothing,” he said. Shots fired?
LP Giobbi Shows Range, Energy and Keyboard Skills
Between the colorful production on the screens behind her and the deep bass set, LP Giobbi brought a bit of psychedelic flair to the day. At home on stage, the classically trained pianist often switched between the turntables and her adjacent keyboard. When not tinkling the ivories, she energetically danced, jumped, threw her arms in the air and did 360-degree turns during her 50-minute set. A smile never left her face, and it seemed genuine.
Showing her range, Giobbi mixed Barry White’s 1974 hit “Baby Blues” and transitioned into more sentimental melodies as the message “Black Queer People Created Dance Music” flashed on screens. New York-based writer and DJ Juliana Huxtable’s name followed the message. Giobbi’s set and her contagious energy really jumpstarted the party.
Empress Of Is In Heat
Empress Of kicked off the block party as the sun scorched the early arriving EDM-loving crowd, but the Los Angeles native wanted to make things even hotter on the stage. Seeming nervous early in the set, it took a few minutes for the Empress to find her flow. She settled in while remixing Modjo’s Lady, a club favorite. “Be good to yourself,” she told the crowd, many fanning themselves for air circulation. “Thank you, Life Is Beautiful for having me.”
In the first week of her For Your Consideration tour, Empress Of gave the crowd what they wanted, playing electronic favorites “Losing Your Mind” and “Take Your Vibes and Go,” originally performed by Kito and Adam Beyer, respectively. Cheekily, she also leaned into the obvious, playing Toni Braxton’s “Making Me High,” which includes lyrics: “You make my temperature rise.” A temperature reading atop Binion’s hotel could be seen from the stage. It read 102 degrees at that moment. Before leaving the stage, Empress Of said, “It’s hot. This shit is crazy. I love you.”
(Disclosure: Rolling Stone purchased a majority stake in Life is Beautiful in 2022.)
Launch Gallery: Life is Beautiful 2024: See the Best Photos From the Vegas Festival
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